| At risk medically, financially
When Raquel Martinez looks into her daughter's dark brown eyes, she sees a future brimming with possibilities: a doctor, an engineer, a teacher, an artist. But 5-year-old Zahlya Niebla might never reach her potential. Although she doesn't know it, she's in a fight for her life. Zahlya has a rare condition that has forced her to eat and breathe through tubes. She has an enlarged heart. Other complications include diaphragm hernias, scoliosis, hearing loss, visual impairment, sleep apnea and developmental delays. Above all, her mother and doctors said, Zahlya needs constant care. But Zahlya is at risk of losing critical financial assistance after a decision by the Oregon Department of Human Services' medically fragile children's unit. It's a decision -- currently on appeal -- that Martinez does not understand and that doctors do not support.
Esophagectomy safe for obese patients
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A special type of surgery to remove the esophagus in patients with esophageal cancer is safe for people who are obese, say U.S. scientists. Since the obesity epidemic of the last 20 years has increased the incidence of reflux disease, which has produced a 350-percent increase in the incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma, the researchers think this information is good news for thoracic surgeons and oncologists. John Alexander and his colleagues at the University of Michigan Health system studied 133 profoundly obese patients with a body mass index of 35 or more who underwent transhiatal esophagectomy (THE) at the University of Michigan Health System between 1977 and 2006. The study group was compared to a control group of matched lean patients undergoing the procedure, and the team found that both populations had similar morbidity and mortality statistics, despite the difference in weight.
Comparison of Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation for the Enhancement of Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Source Zone ...
By Silva, M L B Da; Daprato, R C; Gomez, D E; Hughes, J B; Et al ABSTRACT:Two 11.7-m^sup 3^ experimental controlled release systems (ECRS), packed with sandy model aquifer material and amended with tetrachloroethene (PCE) dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source zone, were operated in parallel with identical flow regimes and electron donor amendments. Hydrogen Releasing Compound (Regenesis Bioremediation Products, Inc., San Clemente, California), and later dissolved lactate, served as electron donors to promote dechlorination. One ECRS was bioaugmented with an anaerobic dechlorinating consortium directly into the source zone, and the other served as a control (biostimulated only) to determine the benefits of bioaugmentation. The presence of halorespiring bacteria in the aquifer matrix before bioaugmentation, shown by nested polymerase chain reaction with phylogenetic primers, suggests that dechlorinating catabolic potential may be somewhat widespread.
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